Survivor Series (1988)
Survivor Series (1988) was the second annual Survivor Series pay-per-view professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on Thanksgiving Night, November 24, 1988 and was held at the Richfield Coliseum, in Richfield, Ohio. The main event was a Survivor Series match that featured a 5-man team captained by The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and WWF Champion Randy Savage) against a team captained by The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man). Hogan and Savage were the only survivors in the match. The entire undercard featured three Survivor Series matches between mid-card wrestlers. Background The main feud heading into Survivor Series pitted The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and WWF Champion Randy Savage), Hercules, Koko B. Ware, and Hillbilly Jim against The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Bossman), Ted DiBiase, Haku, and The Red Rooster. Hogan and Savage formed this alliance at WrestleMania IV in March 1988 after Hogan helped Savage in defeating DiBiase in the tournament final for the vacant WWF Championship. DiBiase and André the Giant faced Hogan and Savage at the inaugural SummerSlam in August where the Mega Powers won. DiBiase had bought the contract of André from Heenan at the inaugural Royal Rumble in January. In late 1988, DiBiase bought another contract from Heenan of Hercules, who was a powerful force in the WWF. Hercules refused to become DiBiase's slave and turned babyface and started feuding with DiBiase. DiBiase and other heel wrestlers joined Twin Towers against Mega Powers and other babyface wrestlers. Event The first match of the event was a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match between the team of WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, Sam Houston, The Blue Blazer in his pay-per-view (PPV) debut, and Jim Brunzell and the team of The Honky Tonk Man, Ron Bass, Danny Davis, Greg Valentine, and Bad News Brown. Don Muraco was originally scheduled to be a part of Warrior's team but left WWF, so he was replaced by Jim Brunzell. Beefcake used the sleeper hold on Davis, who submitted at 1:18 mark leaving 4 members on Honky's team. Brown hit Brunzell with a Ghetto Blaster and pinned him, leaving 4 members in both teams. His teammate Valentine accidentally hit him. This angered Brown and he walked away, thus getting counted-out in the process. This left Honky's team with 3 members. Bass hit Houston with a running powerslam and pinned him as 3 members were left in both teams. The high-flying superhero Blue Blazer faced Greg Valentine. Blazer used his quick moves but eventually fell victim to a figure four leglock and was forced to submit. Warrior's team had only 2 members now, Brutus Beefcake and Warrior himself. Beefcake brawled with the opponent team's captain Honky Tonk Man. The duo brawled to the outside and both men were counted-out, leaving Warrior to fend himself against Bass and Valentine. He hit Bass with a double axe handle and pinned him to eliminate him. Warrior and Valentine were left and he hit Valentine too with the double axe handle and pinned him to win the match for his team. The second Survivor Series match was a 10-on-10 variation of tag teams where if a wrestler from a tag team was eliminated, his partner was also eliminated. The match featured the Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian), The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty), the British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid), The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), and The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers) against WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (Ax and Smash), the Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard), The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov), The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond) and Los Conquistadores (Uno and Dos). Hart pinned Raymond with a small package, eliminating The Fabulous Rougeaus from the match. Zhukov hit a reverse diving crossbody on Powers and pinned him to eliminate The Young Stallions but shortly after, he was pinned by Jannetty with a sunset flip, thus eliminating The Bolsheviks from the match. Hart hit a German suplex on Blanchard but the referee saw his shoulders down, so he counted the pinfall eliminating The Hart Foundation. The Rockers began brawling with Blanchard and his partner Anderson. The Rockers and the Brain Busters were both disqualified due to brawling in the ring and were eliminated. Dynamite hit Smash on the mat and went to the top rope. He tried to hit a diving headbutt but Smash got up and clotheslined him and then pinned him to eliminate the British Bulldogs. Smash was unable to handle the powerful Barbarian of the Powers of Pain. When Mr. Fuji thought that his team could not beat the Powers of Pain, he opened the rope causing Smash to get counted-out, thus eliminating Demolition. Ax confronted Fuji but Fuji whacked him with his cane. Demolition beat him and turned babyfaces. The Powers of Pain turned heels after they placed him in their corner. Barbarian hit Uno with a headbutt and pinned him to eliminate Los Conquistadores and this made the Powers of Pain the sole survivors for their own team. The third Survivor Series match featured André the Giant, Rick Rude, Dino Bravo, Mr. Perfect, and Harley Race against Jim Duggan, Jake Roberts, Scott Casey, Ken Patera, and Tito Santana. Junkyard Dog was originally scheduled to be a part of Roberts' team but left WWF. Brian Blair replaced JYD to be a part of the team but he also left WWF, so he was replaced by Scott Casey. Rude hit Patera with a Rude Awakening at 8:18 mark and pinned Patera to eliminate him, leaving Roberts' team with 4 members. A minute later, André's team member Bravo hit Casey with a side suplex and pinned Casey to eliminate him. Roberts' team was left with only 3 members while André's team had still 5 members. However, Santana hit Race with a flying forearm smash and then pinned him to eliminate Race, leaving André's team with 4 members. Opponent team captain André came himself and he used his tall height and heavy weight on Santana. He sat on Santana, knocking him out. Roberts' team had only 2 members, Jim Duggan and Roberts himself. Duggan used his 2x4 on Bravo, getting disqualified in the process. Roberts was now the only member in his team. He managed to fight 4 wrestlers as he hit a DDT on Rude, eliminating him. André applied a chokehold on Roberts and refused to release it, getting disqualified in the process. Before André left, he headbutted Roberts. Perfect took advantage and pinned Roberts to win the match. Perfect and Bravo became the sole survivors for their team. The main event featured The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and WWF Champion Randy Savage), Hercules, Koko B. Ware, and Hillbilly Jim against The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man), Ted DiBiase, Haku, and The Red Rooster. Savage hit a Savage Elbow on Rooster and pinned Rooster to eliminate him, leaving 4 members in Twin Towers' corner. The big Akeem overpowered Hillbilly Jim and hit him with a 747 Splash and then pinned Hillbilly Jim to eliminate him, leaving 4 members in Mega Powers' corner to even the score. Akeem's partner Boss Man hit Koko with a Boss Man Slam and pinned him to eliminate Koko, leaving 3 members in Mega Powers' corner. DiBiase's bodyguard Virgil distracted Hercules, allowing DiBiase to pin him with a schoolboy, leaving 2 members in Mega Powers' corner, Hogan and Savage - the Mega Powers themselves. Savage immediately pinned DiBiase with a schoolboy to eliminate him, leaving 3 members in Twin Towers' corner. Boss Man handcuffed Hogan to the ropes. The referee counted out Boss Man, eliminating him and both teams had 2 members. Akeem was also eliminated at the same time because of shoving the referee and illegally double-teaming Savage. The captains of their team, Hogan and Savage were still in the match while Haku was the only member from the other team. He managed to handle his opponents for the next four minutes, before Hogan hit him with a leg drop and pinned Haku to eliminate him and win the match as Hogan and Savage survived the match for their team. Aftermath The Mega Powers were a powerful tag team throughout 1988 but their domination began to end as misunderstanding occurred between Hogan and Savage in early 1989. This all began on January 7, 1989 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Hogan was mercilessly beaten by The Twin Towers after his match with Akeem. Savage came out and cleared the ring with a steel chair. Elizabeth took Hogan to the backstage area which angered Savage. He thought that he was a third wheel and this was the beginning of the breakup of Mega Powers as Savage was angry as to why his wife Miss Elizabeth was used by Hogan as his manager. He confronted her about the issue but she took Hogan backstage. Problems increased further in the Royal Rumble match where Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage as he was trying to eliminate Bad News Brown. On February 3 edition of The Main Event, Hogan and Savage faced The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man) in a tag team match, filled with controversy. During the climax of the match, Akeem threw Savage on top of Elizabeth, knocking her out cold. Hogan picked her up and took her backstage, leaving Savage alone to face the Towers while Hogan tended to Elizabeth. When Hogan came back, Savage slapped him in the face and took the belt in his hand and turned heel by abandoning Hogan. Though, Hogan managed to pick up the win. Mega Powers disbanded as Hogan and Savage feuded with each other. At WrestleMania V, Hogan defeated Savage in a match what was billed "The Mega Powers Explode" to win the WWF Championship ending Savage's reign of 371 days. Results Survivor Series elimination matches 1 2 3 4 Other on-screen talent Category:WWE for Extreme Category:Survivor Series Category:Pay-Per-View Events